Most Vodka Isn’t Made From Potatoes

There is a common misconception that all vodka is made from potatoes. In reality most vodka is made from grains such as sorghum, corn, rye, and wheat. Some vodka is even made using fruit such as grapes and citrus. Sugar cane and cane by-products such as molasses and even sugar are used to create some vodka. There’s even vodka made from whey.

You might ask yourself, how can this be true? Well vodka is unique in that it first must be distilled to an incredibly high 190 proof. At this point in the production process the spirit contains 95 percent alcohol and only 5% other compounds including a slight profile from the original ingredients. It now becomes by definition a neutral spirit with only slight flavor nuances left from the original ingredients. From this point purified water is carefully blended with the spirit to bring it to the bottling proof. Most vodka is bottled at 80 proof.

For connoisseurs the slightly different nuances that come from the original ingredients are very important. The flavor profile from the original ingredient can soften the spirit through the finish. The source of ingredients should be important. Foreign versus domestic sources, gluten or gluten free, and most of all subtle flavor differences all come from a distiller’s choice of ingredients.

Gunnar’s American Farm Vodka cares deeply about ingredients. We source naturally gluten free corn from the greatest source of agriculture in the world, the American farmer. The smooth finish brought forward from careful sourcing earned Gunnar’s Vodka a Gold Medal in the Fifty Best competition. We are proud of our support of the American farmer and the difference great ingredients make.